The LA Kings have signed forwards Corey Perry to a one-year contract with an average annual value (AAV) of $2,000,000, and up to an additional $2,000,000 in performance bonuses, through the 2025-26 season, and Joel Armia to a two-year contract worth an AAV of $2,500,000 through the 2026-27 season.
Armia, 32, skated in a career-high 81 games for the Montreal Canadiens last season, posting 11 goals and an NHL personal-best 18 assists for 29 points (10-18=29) with 16 penalty minutes (PIM), co-team-leading three shorthanded goals and 205 minutes of cumulative shorthanded time-on-ice (TOI), the fourth-most among all league forwards. The 6-3, 215-pound forward added a pair of assists (0-2=2) in five Stanley Cup Playoff games.
Originally selected 16th-overall by Buffalo in the 2011 NHL Draft, Armia is a veteran of 586 career regular-season NHL games, accumulating 103 goals and 207 points (103-104=207) over parts of 11 NHL seasons with Montreal (2018=25), Winnipeg (2015-18) and Buffalo (2014-15). Armia’s best NHL season came in the 2019=20 campaign where he recorded 16 goals while setting career-marks in assists (14), points (30), power-play goals (3), shorthanded goals (3), shots (155), time-on-ice per game (TOI; 17:14), hits (146) and takeaways (47). The Pori, Finland, native has also skated in 44 career Stanley Cup Playoff games, tallying five goals and 12 points (5-7=12), including four games in the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals against Tampa Bay.
Prior to his North American debut, Armia played three seasons (2010-13) with Assat Pori of Liiga, Finland’s top professional league, notching 100 points (55-45=100) in 149 career games. In his first season with Assat Pori in 2010-11, Armia tallied 18 goals and 29 points (18-11=29) to mark the most goals by a rookie and points by an Under-18 junior in Liiga.
Internationally, Armia has represented Finland in six International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) events, including two IIHF Men’s World Championships (2023, 2022), three IIHF Men’s World Junior Championships (2013, 2012, 2011) and an IIHF Men’s Under-18 World Junior Championship (2011). Most recently, Armia also represented Finland at the NHL’s 2025 4 Nations Face-Off Tournament.
